Not to beat a dead horse (or in this case donkey) back to life, but here’s a prediction of things to come:

Within six months Anthony Weiner will be a frequent guest on Rachel Maddow’s show and gagging it up (to audience applause) on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show; within nine months he’ll be filling in as guest host when Maddow takes time off and making the rounds on the night-show circuit (to audience applause); within a year he’ll be a featured commentator for MSNBC’s 2012 election coverage, following which (like Eliot Spitzer on CNN), he’ll get his own show.

Oh, did I forget the book contract? The college lecture tour? The Vanity Fair Comeback Kid cover? The Jockey underwear ads?

Before the story is buried under an avalanche of irrelevant news about the war in Afghanistan, the economy and the deficit, a few wayward thoughts on L’Affaire Weiner:

1. This isn’t a case in which the Pompidou Rule — that even a public figure is entitled to a private life — applies. Having 45,000 “followers” on Twitter doesn’t suggest a lust for after-hours privacy. When public figures go public with their private lives, they’re fair game.

2. Neither is it a scandal brought about because Anthony Weiner merely did a “stupid” thing. Stupid things are done out of ignorance or lack of understanding. Weiner knew exactly what he was up to. Call it arrogance, call it puerility, but let’s not give the stupid among us a bad name.

3. Nor is this a case of the cover-up bringing on the problem. That’s a conventional canard that dates back to Watergate. Does anyone seriously believe that if Richard Nixon had gone on television to confess, “I approved the break-ins,” The Washington Post and Democrats on Capitol Hill would have dropped the matter? Or that Anthony Weiner’s confessing that he sent a photo of his crotch to a 23-year-old co-ed would have led Fox News and Republicans on the Hill to laud him for candor?

No, for politicians it’s not the cover-up that leads to trouble. It’s being guilty of something that needs covering-up.

4. Finally, about this business of Weiner seeking “professional help.” That’s simply the secular politician’s equivalent of calling in Billy Graham for a prayer session; which, I recall, has a 50-50 track record as a tactical ploy. It worked for Clinton but not for Nixon.

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Victor Gold

About the author

Victor Gold is a Washington journalist whose most recent book was "Invasion of the Party Snatchers: How the Holy-Rollers and Neo-Cons Destroyed the GOP." A former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush, he co-authored the former president's autobiography, "Looking Forward." Included among his other books is "The Body Politic," a satirical fiction written with Lynne Cheney, then-chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Gold lives with his wife, Dale, and two paleo-conservative cats.
(Photograph by JohnNelsonPhoto.com)